Graces of the Living Bread
- LUCIE CHRISTINE
It was at this time that our Lord began to favor me with a deep sense of his Presence in the Blessed Sacrament, ...
... which either left me free to pray vocally or took that freedom from me according to his holy will.
By faith we believe in the Real Presence as though we had actual testimony of it, but with the grace of which I speak, this adorable Presence makes itself felt with the same certitude as we should experience if someone stood close by us and spoke to us while our eyes were closed.
On one occasion at Holy Communion my soul was transported with such an excess of joy that I asked our Lord why he gave me such happiness? He answered me: "It is to detach you from all creatures."
My soul remained, in fact, in a state of indifference towards certain things, and of aversion towards others, interesting in themselves, but which appeared more and more futile to me.
I felt the effect of this joy very strongly for about a fortnight, after which this feeling became permanent and was augmented by the action of grace.
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Acknowledgement
Lucie Christine. "Graces of the Living Bread." excerpt from Spiritual Journal of Lucie Christine (1870-1908) (St. Louis, MO: B. Herder, 1915).
This excerpt appeared in Magnificat.
The Author
Lucie Christine (1844-1908) was the pseudonym of an upper middle class Frenchwoman, Mathilde Boutle. She married at 21, reared five children, was deeply involved in domestic life yet suffered verbal and physical abuse at the hands of an alcoholic husband. Lucie Christine said her mysticism was "very simple. My soul lives in God, by a glance of love between him and myself". Anyone can learn to "be silent before God," she said, "to look at Him, and let Him look at you." Books about her include Spiritual Journal of Lucie Christine (1870-1908) by A. Poulain and A Mysticism of Kindness: The Lucie Christine Story by Astrid O'Brien.